"It's the emotions speaking," Atmane overjoyed after his victory against Fritz in Cincinnati

Terence Atmane isn’t stopping in Cincinnati. The Frenchman, who came through qualifying, has reached his first Masters 1000 quarterfinal after victories over Nishioka, Cobolli, Fonseca, and Fritz.

The world No. 4 couldn’t find the key to counter the Frenchman’s plans, as Atmane won a three-set battle (3-6, 7-5, 6-3). Overjoyed after his prestigious win against the American, the 23-year-old Atmane reflected on his performance.

"On match point, when I saw the ball come off the frame of my racket, I thought it was going out and we’d have to play a tiebreak, but it landed in. Then, I saw Taylor Fritz running for it and realized he wasn’t going to reach it. I told myself it couldn’t be real.

After that, it’s the emotions speaking. There’s been so much struggle these past months that there were tears of joy at the end. And now, the top 100 is secured… It’s all positive.

But this isn’t the end goal—we have to keep going, keep pushing, and confirm this in the quarterfinals to maybe hope for a spot in the semifinals," he said before discussing his upcoming match against world No. 9 Holger Rune.

"It’ll be an interesting match. He hasn’t played much, whereas this will be my seventh match this week. But I feel good physically and even better mentally.

I’m very excited, very happy. It’ll be tough, just like every match since the first round of qualifying. It’ll be a big battle, and I can’t wait to play it on the center court," Atmane concluded for *L'Équipe*.